2016 Talk Descriptions

Downstairs

Report from Russia

10:15am – 11:30am

There will be an informal discussion lead by someone visiting from Russia about the conditions and political climate in Russia, in regards to anarchists and more broadly. Anarchists and anti-fascist organizers are currently facing increasing amounts of state repression, as well as a rise of fascism and anti-immigrant and homophobic reactionaries. Come prepared with questions.

This conversation/dialogue will focus on the our story of Hip Hop, Corporatization of creative expression and ongoing decolonial resistance struggle(s). How do communities in struggle engage Hip Hop with Anarchist principles locally, regionally, nationally, and globally? What do Hip Hopheads envision for the next generations?

On Being a Seattleite

2:00pm – 3:30pm

This discussion aims to further the discussion around gentrification and the metropolis as well as go in to the Duwamish struggle and being Black in the Great White Northwest. The presenter will go through a brief history of Colonialism in the Northwest to help somewhat frame the discussion. Ultimately, the question must be asked, “As anarchists, how do we intervene and navigate in today’s conditions (ie #blacklivesmatter movement and the Indigenous uprising or lack thereof and rise of white supremacy and ­­­neo-nazis) in the northwest.

We’ll be presenting issue 3 of baedan, subtitled “journal of queer time travel.” There will be talks based on the two major essays, one on James Baldwin and Jean Genet, and another on a critique of the coming out narrative. We’ll also share dramatic readings from a new translation about the Front homosexuel d’action révolutionnaire (FHAR).
We’ll talk about how all of these pieces reflect a wider set of conversations around themes of wandering through nonlinear spacetimes, alternative forms of historical research, and making the
critique of civilization both deeper and stranger.

Upstairs

Abolition of the Human?

10:15am – 11:30am

We will explore questions surrounding the premise that communization entails the abolition of all existing mediations, and thus the negation of “humanity” as a category of being separate from “nature”, etc. We will attempt to put forward a working definition of humanism for the purposes of our presentation. We intend to raise and explore questions about the conflicts caused when anti-capitalists rely on various humanisms in their conceptual frameworks. We will look at contemporary examples including the growth of right-wing anti-humanisms in several regions of the globe, and popular cultural expressions such as The Walking Dead.

Horror as Subversion

By Paul Simons

11:45am – 1:15pm

There is something fundamentally subversive in cultural horror artifacts. The moment of horror, its axis point, introduces into the seemingly smooth veneer of the social totality an anachronism, an interstitial bubble that threatens, by its presence, to weaken or even subsume the edifice of civilization. In this presentation we will examine the Italian exploitation film Cannibal Holocaust (1980) as an example of the subversive potential of horror artifacts. Cannibal Holocaust (CH) is easily one of the most controversial films ever made and distributed, on release the director Ruggero Deodato was arrested for homicide and the film was subsequently banned in a number of countries, including the UK, Germany, Iceland and New Zealand. In the film, a TV documentary crew is sent to locate and record cannibal tribes in Amazonia; in doing so CH calls into question the Cold War, Third World resource extraction, the veracity of the mainstream media and contemplates the nature of civilization and the Primitive. The main critical themes of the movie will be discussed and some scenes will be shown to illustrate these plot elements. One reviewer described CH as an,” angry, ugly film,” and we will be viewing and discussing some of the most repugnant scenes. Viewer discretion is advised.

In Defense of Cruelty

2:00pm – 3:30pm

The politics that seduces us is not ethical, it is cruel. Few emotions burn like cruelty. Those motivated by cruelty are neither fair nor impartial. Their actions speak with an intensity that does not desire permission, let alone seek it. While social anarchism sings lullabies of altruism, there are those who play with the hot flames of cruelty.
There are two parts to our defense of cruelty in this workshop. First, we critique anarchist do-gooders and prefiguration. Second, we elaborate on four principles of political cruelty: masochism, civil war, partisanship,and revenge.

Abolishing Education and Creating Alternatives Against Intergalactic Imperialism and for a World in Which Many Worlds Fit

3:45pm – 5:00pm

Education is and always has been a concept and project of Empire. Schools seek to make us addicts to money that the Empire may force us to attack the earth and help colonize the galaxy with its self-destructive civilization. The robbery of our capacities to learn as a natural part of life has been so successful that the very idea of learning is often confused with education. We will briefly discuss the colonization and incarceration of our minds and bodies (and spirits if it pleases) through education and then focus on forms of learning in freedom and right relationship with the earth and each other. Example alternatives include: 206 Free Skool, A Center for Capacitation, DIY projects, gatherings & festivals, social movements as learning laboratories, the Zapatista Little School, games for autonomy and more! All ages and generations welcome.